Abstract
The first Japanese translation of Thomas Hobbes' “Leviathan” (1651) was “Shukenron” (Theory of Sovereignty) by an unknown author which was published by the Ministry of Education in 1883 during the highest of the popular right movement against the Meiji Government. It was an abridged translation of the nine chapters from the fifteen chapters of “Leviathan”. As is well known, in spite of Hobbes' defense of the absolute sovereignty, he was not a divine right thinker, but required absolutism only to secure the equal and fundamental natural right or right of individual self-preservation. It would be clear that the Meiji Government intended to utilize “Leviathan” as a strong weapon against the popular right movement, but in truth Hobbes' political theory does not fit for that intention. Though the translator wisely omitted Book I of “Leviathan” which contained the detailed theory of individualistic natural right and translated only the parts of Book II which asserted the absolute sovereignty, the first Japanese translation showed an unique character of Hobbes' political theory unintendedly or disguisedly. This article intends to testify this discrepancy by comparing Japanese translation and original English of chapter 17 and chapter 21 of “Leviathan”.
